1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments generally relate to a drilling or cutting apparatus and method. More specifically, embodiments relate to an apparatus or machine (e.g., a drilling or cutting machine) and method for performing an operation on (e.g., forming one or more holes in or cutting) a material such as a beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Preparing beams for use in various applications, such as for structural use in buildings, often involves drilling holes in various locations on the beam according to specifications. Drilling machines are typically used to drill the holes at the specified locations on the beam.
Various beams, such as I-beams, routinely are not ideally shaped and include some variation in shape from beam to beam, for example beam width varies and the flanges are not always vertically disposed with respect to the web. FIGS. 1A-E show some exemplary I-beams, including offset or skewed configurations of I-beams. The typical drilling machine is not configured to take into account these offsets, skews, or variations in shape of the beams, causing the drilling machine to drill holes in the wrong locations on the beam. The currently utilized drilling machine drills the holes where the ideal beam's holes should be located rather than where the holes should be disposed in the actual beam (which may be offset or skewed in comparison to the ideal beam). The desired locations of the holes of the I-beam are determined by the application, for example when I-beams are intended for use in the construction of a structure such as a building. Generally, the strength of the beam is based on the distance of the holes from the center of the web, making accurate placement of web holes of paramount concern in various beam applications.
Preparing beams for use in applications also may involve cutting portions of the beam, such as the beam flanges, using a machine or apparatus. Again, the flanges are often not disposed with respect to the web as needed and the flanges may not be even with respect to one another (they may be offset from one another) or vertical with respect to the web. A cutting machine which is capable of determining the offset of the flanges relative to one another and cutting the flanges accordingly is not available in the prior art and is needed. Therefore, there is a need for a drilling machine utilized in performing operations on a beam (e.g., forming beam holes) which is capable of determining the variation in shape, offset, or skew of a beam. There is a further need for a drilling machine which is capable of drilling holes in the correct locations in a beam despite the skew or offset of a beam. There is yet a further need for an apparatus which is capable of determining variation in shape, skew, or offset of a beam and drilling the holes in the correct locations in the beam according to that determination. There is also a need for a drilling machine which is capable of receiving multiple beams of various shapes, skews, and offsets and drilling holes in the beams despite the different shapes, skews, and offsets of these beams.